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All posts by Peggy Champ

How shall I write of Sussex, who have known No other home? Who grew to love her sandy shores Pebble-guarded, and rock-pool studded – where the turned rock Yielded the slippery elver – sliding through hands, knees, feet, Eluding capture – yet thrilling still.

Who climbed upon the rolling bare-backed Downs Sheep-grazed, and so flower-studded; Tiny orchids, The Sussex rampion, harebells, scabious, and the fragrant thyme. The wooded Weald to the north, and south the moving sea, misty or sparkling, Blending salt air and downland breeze.

The hayfields, full of flowers, were served by men; And massive, patient horses, swishing their tails against the flies. There were wet places still, where one caught newts With tiny human hands; tadpoles and minute toads; Where moorhens clucked and circled like clockwork toys. There were kingcups then, hugely golden; iris and water-lilies, Tall rushes at the edge of the deeper pool, where cattle drank.

We’d drive out to the woods, parking the car and picnicking To hear the nightingales singing their hearts out In the growing dusk, oblivious of their human audience.

How little now remains of all this largesse – Only what can be caught in memory’s net – To be passed on to those who come after Who doubtless feel Their elders probably exaggerate the joys of their lost youth.

It’s true that as the century draws near its end Those who remember its early years can see Each generation has less treasures left to hoard – Unless, maybe, as this old century dies, the trend Can be reversed, and the next return some of the riches That have gone – a rebirth of the treasures of the past Valued, at last, by a new century.

My father and his brothers and sisters were reared on very strict ‘Wesleyan’ principles. Sundays were sacrosanct – chapel morning and evening, and Sunday school in the afternoons – and no food must be cooked, so all meals were cold (though I gather it was considered acceptable to have hot boiled potatoes with lunch, provided they were peeled the night before and left to cook slowly on the kitchen range before leaving). Card games, in fact all games, were banned and only special ‘Sunday’ (i.e. very religious) books were allowed. Continue reading →

Grandpa and Granny Linfield got married on 1st January 1883. The south road between Lancing and Worthing had been washed away by heavy tides, so the road via Sompting had to be taken. This was gravelly and worried the horse, so the trip took so long that they only just got to Bedford Row chapel in time (there was a limit to the hour within which marriages could be solemnised). Continue reading →